Astro Q4 profit down 47% to RM83m
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Shalini Kumar of theedgemalaysia.com
Thursday, 14 March 2013 18:43

KUALA LUMPUR (Mar 14): Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd recorded a net profit of RM83.2 million for its fourth quarter ended Jan 31, 2013, a 47% fall from the RM157 million it posted in the last corresponding quarter.

Its quarterly revenue came in at RM1.1 billion, a slight increase over the RM1 billion it brought in last year.

“The decrease in net profit is mainly due to a reduction in interest income of RM41.4 million as well as higher depreciation of RM57.5 million compared with the corresponding quarter, which resulted in lower tax expenses by RM22.3 million,” Astro said in its explanatory notes accompanying its results.

For its full year to January 2013, Astro recorded a net profit of RM418 million, down 33.5% from the RM629 million it saw last year.

But its 2013 revenue came in at RM4.3 billion, up by 13.2% compared to 2012’s RM3.8 billion.

“We therefore declare a second interim single-tier dividend of 1.5 sen per share and propose a final dividend of 1.0 sen per share subject to shareholders’ approval, giving a total dividend of 4.0 sen per share since listing in October last year.”

Looking forward, Rozhan added the group was now aiming to convert the rest of its residential customers to the Astro B.yond platform by the end of January 2014.

“We have momentum in adding both new Pay TV and Njoi customers, and will continue to build on our 52% household penetration rate, which in turn will make Astro more attractive to media buyers,” she added.

“With Astro On-The-Go, we are now bringing Astro services to customers and non-customers in Malaysia, as well as the introduction of the service beyond Malaysia, expanding our footprint beyond our traditional customers of households to individuals in Malaysia and abroad.”

“We will continue to strengthen our IP assets in content, including on-demand and prepaid offerings to remain our customers’ content provider of choice,” she said.

I was puzzled by the following statement.

“Our good financial results are a reflection of the achievement of challenging targets, generating strong cash flows from operating activities.

Net profit dropped 47%!

This is considered good?

And I was more amused by today's headlines on Business Times.

Since the net profit dropped by 47%, Business Times decided to focus on REVENUE!

"This is a result of new customers and good take-up of value added products and services such as high definition, Personal Video Recording, Multi-room, On Demand (Astro First and Astro Best) and Superpack, which have contributed to the ARPU (average revenue per use) growth of five per cent from RM89 to RM93," she told a press conference here yesterday.

Rohana said total subscribers grew by 418,000 (comprising of 209,000 for Pay TV and 209,000 for Njoi), increasing Astro's total customer base to 3.5 million and an overall TV household penetration rate to 52 per cent.

For its fourth quarter ended January 31 2013, Astro recorded a net profit of RM83.2 million, down 47 per cent from RM157 million in the previous year.

Revenue stood at RM1.1 billion from RM1 billion recorded in the corresponding quarter.

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, Astro said the decrease in net profit was mainly due to a reduction in interest income of RM41.4 million and higher depreciation of RM57.5 million, which resulted in lower tax expenses by RM22.3 million.

Rohana said Astro is aiming to convert the rest of its residential subscribers to the Astro B.yond platform by the end of January 2014.

"We have momentum in adding both new Pay TV and Njoi customers and will continue to build on our 52 per cent household penetration rate, which in turn will make Astro more attractive," she added.